Christopher Bell emphasizes on supporting JGR teammate Ty Gibbs toward shot at Daytona victory

Christopher Bell has addressed JGR's approach with helping Ty Gibbs secure a win at Daytona International Speedway. He acknowledged that Gibbs' win would benefit the team as a whole, but made it clear that no driver is forced to 'sacrifice' for his sake.

Gibbs is currently 173 points below the playoff cutline, and with only 60 points available on Saturday's Coke Zero Sugar 400, the No.54 driver is in a must-win situation. Given that the rest of the JGR camp has qualified through race wins, it's natural to expect a unified push to help him reach victory lane.

However, Bell admits that such a scenario is not without it's limitations. In an interview with Frontstretch on Friday, August 22, the No.20 Toyota driver broke down the prevailing sentiment within JGR.

"Joe's not sitting up here telling us that, you know, we need to get the 54 in at all costs. And never once in my career has he told me that I need to sacrifice a win of the race to for someone else. I think whenever it comes down to it, if Chase has the opportunity to win, he's going to try and win. Same for Denny, same for myself, and same for Ty," he said. [1:39 onwards]

"So, at the end of the day, it's going to be the best man's going to come out on top. But we certainly want to give Ty an opportunity and, you know, by giving Ty an opportunity, it should help us out too," added Bell.

Christopher Bell is currently sixth in points with three wins this season. Notably, he'd secured all his wins in consecutive fashion. The result has him fourth in the playoff standings with 17 points to his name.

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Christopher Bell admits to Toyota disadvantage at Superspeedways

Christopher Bell reflected on his previous outing at Daytona and conceded to Toyota's struggles against Fords and Chevrolets. He'd crashed out of the season-opening Daytona 500 after a late-race accident with Cole Custer. The incident is now famously known for Ryan Preece's flip after getting collected by Bell.

"The Ford and the Chevrolets have just, they've beat us and it seems like they've got a hold on this style of racing," he said via aforementioned source.

In contrast with his comments, four out of the top-5 drivers at Daytona 500 were from the Toyota stable, including JGR's very own Chase Briscoe. But the same could not be said at Talladega Superspeedway, another track known for it's pack racing style.

Chevys and Fords reigned supreme among the front runners, while 23XL Racing's Bubba Wallace remained the sole Toyota driver in the top-10. Moreover, Christopher Bell suffered his second DNF of the season after making contact with his teamamte Denny Hamlin. He spun out from the lead and collected Chris Buescher in the process.